Bill O'Reilly: Shameful? Ridiculous? Just pitiful?

Or embarassing?

Read this, watch the accompanying clip (if you can) and make the call.

Best part: At the end, when he tries to assert that, as a man, of course, he's not offended...

Of course, Bill. We all know what a man you are. What with the calling for beating up on The Dixie Chicks and all.

Works for me

How to get Bush out of office faster and sooner.

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Via The Washington Monthly:

Judgemental kulturkampfer (look it up) Michael Medved attempts to argue that homosexuals should shut up about wanting to get married on the grounds that Elton John says he doesn't want to.

Yes, really.

One of the world's most prominent gay entertainers offered some rare common sense on the explosive issue of same sex marriage.

Psst--Michael! Elton John is a bubblegum pop musician whom I cannot believe anybody takes seriously as a spokesman for gay rights. This is the same guy who dueted with the thug Eminem.

Don't get me wrong--he's fabulous, a stately homo of England. But if you've seen Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras, the TV documentary that his own partner made about him...you know that "rare common sense" maybe aren't the words you want to be using .

To reiterate: Watch this damn show.

Why? Because.



It would be a really, really smart idea.

Need more?

How thoughtful.

Vatican forgives John Lennon for Jesus quip

Beatles cover meme

Post one you like.



Jeopardygirl, Steve, PJ, Brave Sir Robin, and ahab...Yo!

"...the series has done a terrific job of reinventing what it means to be a terminator."

In my continuing quest to get you to watch the TV shows that I love, I'm going to point you towards this review of a recent episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: "Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today"

These are a few of my favorite things

Some things I like:

Gorgeous girls.
"Post-punk" music and '80s icons.
Idealism.
Water imagery.
Dolphins.

This is "Rush Hour" by Jane Wiedlin of The Go Go's, one of her most creatively successful solo singles. It's from the album Fur, which featured the late Rob Fisher of Naked Eyes on keyboards.

I like it.

Is it wrong that as I look at this picture, all I can think of is the squeaks all that leather must be making?

It's Kate Hudson and dancers in rehearsals for Nine, a musical based on the Broadway hit of 20 years ago, BTW, but it looks to me like one of those "leather shop" SNL skits.

Oh, this makes me sad...and then happy

This afternoon I got one of those emails that I frequently get from music PR folks. I'm still on a lot of mailing lists from when I used to write more reviews than I do these days.

I always glance at them to see if there's anything that makes me want to "come out of retirement," but there rarely is. Today, however, was a bit of hype regarding a new duo calling themselves The Secret History.

The Secret History was formed in 2007 by songwriter Michael Grace Jr., best known for acclaimed cult indie pop band My Favorite.

The Secret History also features vocalist Lisa Ronson, daughter of Bowie guitarist, and glam-rock legend Mick Ronson.

What makes me sad is that this is how I'm finding out that My Favorite has indeed broken up. I like My Favorite. They're on my "If my Colley/Keitha/Annabel movie got made, music I wish I could use on the soundtrack" list (specifically, a song called "listening to The Black Cassette"). More about that in a minute.

Now that I think of it, they inspired part of the writing, too.

I've written about them a few times (more about that in two minutes).

So My Favorite being no more makes me sad. On the other hand, the thought of songwriter Grace collaborating with the daughter of Ronson, who helped inventor of rock and roll David Bowie do so, is at least intriguing.

So then I scroll down and I see that the lead track of their debut EP is called...“It’s Not The End of The World, Jonah.” For those of you who don't know or have forgotten...my character Colley's first name is Jonah.

I love shit like this. Here's their MySpace page if you want to hear that song and a couple others (you should).

If you scroll down that page still further, there we have quotes from the press about Grace's previous music, and we find this little pop-out paragraph:

This is music that matters to me. The songs have become requirements; Grace's obsessions suddenly seem to have become mine. The alien, the girl or boy "differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility," to quote Webster's. This band reflects an amalgamation, of sounds and styles while all the while retaining an awareness of the awkwardness of youth. Each single track is better than most bands' entire album

The thing of it is...(as if you're not already way ahead of me)...I wrote that. Well, to be honest, I wrote over half of it. See, what they've done is to combine a section of my review of My Favorite's album, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, with Terry Eagan's review of an earlier EP. We were both reviewing for Ink 19.

Everything up through-

The alien, the girl or boy “differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility,” to quote Webster’s.

-is mine.

I know it shouldn't make me happy that my words are found worthy of exploiting for promotion...but it does. If you will allow and forgive me just one moment of self-pity...maybe because it means it has value for someone.

The world is a strange strange strange strange strange place

Joe Lieberman is a turncoat who gets off scot-free (although, y'know...maybe he doesn't.)

Ted Stevens is being allowed to retire as if he were Gwen Verdon taking her last bow, instead of the convicted felon that he is.

And somewhere, John Kerry and Al Gore are dancing around; saying "How you like me NOW, bitches?"

The Senate Minority Leader is acting like a spiteful little child

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell isn't speaking to Majority Leader Harry Reid.

If ever there was a time to, I think the expression is, "lol"...

So there's a little artificial intelligence thing called the Genderanalyzer. Which, as its name suggests, tries to see if it can tell from a page's content whether or not it's written by a man or a woman. I have three blogs, so I gave it three tries.

It got that pharmaceutical diaries and this blog are written by a guy…but it thinks dancing girls is written by a woman.

Now That's Entertainment

I mean, the pretzels the GOP/Fox News types will twist themselves into to avoid saying the simple truth: Such types don't believe gay people are human beings and so they don't believe they're deserving of civil rights.

Come on, GOP/Fox News types! Let your homophobia flags fly!

Because you're not fooling anyone, you know. I mean it. Not anyone.

To be fair, she does have all that experience under fire in Bosnia

David Corn has a good post at the Mother Jones blog on some of the many reasons why Hillary Clinton just might not be the best choice for secretary of state. I think he's right.

Whatever positives she may have for that position, I've become convinced they are dwarfed by the negatives she brings.

Let's just enjoy this headline while we can

Cheney and Gonzales indicted

Vice president Dick Cheney and former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez have been indicted by a grand jury in Southern Texas.

The indictment accuses Cheney of engaging in an organized criminal activity because of his investment in the Vanguard Group.

It claims Cheney had a conflict of interest because the group holds interests in private prison companies running federal detention centers.

A separate indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons.

Something like justice

The latest on the Megan Meier case The judge has decided he will allow evidence of her suicide to be presented in the trial of the horrible, alleged person Lori Drew who chose to torment a child. One whom she knew had emotional problems.

Good.

The good news and the bad news

The good news is that "Life" has been given a full-season order by NBC.

The bad news is that the Donal Logue character has not yet put a shotgun beneath his smarmy chin and pulled the trigger.

In the extremely unlikely event that anyone from the series should come across this, please, for the love of god, in the name of all that is holy, kill that character. Slowly. Make sure he suffers.

Before he kills your show.

For those of you just joining us, Rodgers, Hart and Hammerstein are all dead

Kelly Clarkson has finished recording her fourth album and her new single is likely called “My Life Would Suck Without You.”

Weird coincidences dept.

Remember last week, when I said that Richard Schiff, Toby on West Wing, was guest starring on Terminator? Well, last night, so he did. But what's more, so did an actor named Adam Busch.

Busch played the role of Warren in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer--a character I hated but I was meant to, and anyway it wasn't his fault. He's also the longtime boyfriend of Amber Benson.

Small world.

I remain convinced that if Hillary Clinton truly wants to advance any further in her political career...

...whether that be by working for Obama, or making another run for the White House herself in eight years...

...she really needs to have Bill boarded like a dog. Again, I suggest the Playboy mansion...

god-spare us from people who think they have to save us from George Carlin

From a Washington Post story

The late George Carlin, whose sense of irony was world class, would have appreciated last night's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony at the Kennedy Center, though it's not clear which rich irony he would have liked most.

And as a comedian who made an art out of blue language ("The king of raw," Maher called him) Carlin surely would have gotten some mileage out of the fact that only three of his "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" were actually spoken from the Kennedy Center stage. (Denis Leary alone accounted for three F-bombs.)

Carlin himself rematerialized in a clip to do the bit, though -- again, ironically -- the commentary on language and the absurdity of banning words was itself bleeped repeatedly by the Kennedy Center censor.

Even in death...not even this, huh? Even the man getting this prize in this place doesn't get to have his work spoken the way he wrote it. I guess the vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts at the Kennedy Center were worried about (the no-doubt vast) number of pre-teens whose ears might've been scalded.

(Thx Cor.)

"If you're good at anticipating the human mind...it leaves nothing to chance."

For those of you who are glad to see that the talk about "Saw" has died down around here...

Lionsgate Films ... recently come out with the release date of "Saw VI". In their announcement, the studio claim to have set the sixth horror thriller movie to be released on October 23, 2009.

BTW...get this, and tell me it doesn't seem like some sort of early Christmas present for me:

"Saw VI" will have to be up against another thriller, Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's "Cabin in the Woods". Beside "Cabin", there are two other movies slated to be released on the particular date, they are Hilary Swank-starring biopic "Amelia" and Japanese manga adaptation "Astro Boy".

So you're telling me...the next Saw movie...will be in direct competition with a film co-written by cult writer Joss Whedon...who BTW, is disgusted by so-called "torture porn"...and a film based on manga, which I'd like to see eradicated from the face of the earth.

This is gonna be good.

When your Karma runs over your dogma

"Focus on Family," Dobson's religious group that screwed the gays, anounces a round of layoffs.

Oh, brilliant

The first two minutes of this year's Doctor Who Christmas special, titled..."The Next Doctor." It made me smile and laugh...

I suppose I should be happy about this

This blog is currently the number-one answer if you do an Ask.com Blogsearch for the words, "Eva Amurri tits."

Imagine my pride.

Genius

From The Lady Known As Blue.

If I were a transvestite (and had the body for it) I would so dress like this

Lines from the Stephen Colbert roast

Via E&P Pub:

Rahm Emanuel: Mary Matalin is scared of Stephen, and she's seen Carville naked! ... We're frightened of Colbert, but we know that deep down, underneath the Republican character you see on TV, there's still a good man, there's still hope for him. It's the same way we feel about Joe Lieberman."

and Huffington Post.

From Stephen Colbert's speech:

"Dana Perino is here, what an honor to be roasted by the spokesman for the president. Dana Perino, wonderful to see you. I always knew Scott McClellan would hatch into something beautiful.

Finally...an excuse to say "Make your choice," and not be talking about the Saw films.

Democracy for America has a "guess who Barack Obama will pick for his cabinet" game.

It's times like this I wish Hillary Clinton had kicked ass

"I showed her the closets. I showed her all the things that women are interested in."

-- First Lady Laura Bush, in an interview on CNN, on what she showed Michelle Obama during her visit of the White House.

Via The Political Wire.

Some feelings and pics from the Seattle anti-prop 8 march today

Yes, I was there, but for the record I didn't take any of these pictures (no camera). I scooped these up from various and sundry sources, which I will identify.

Reportedly the current police estimate is that there were 6,000 of us, but many who were there think it was larger. I'm terrible at estimating numbers, so I won't try.

All I know is that when it was over I was so tired I didn't know which way was up--and maybe I still don't--but I felt good.

Here's a blog post from one of our local weeklies, The Stranger, which is also where I found this picture:



These next two are by JeanineAnderson:





One of the little perks for us straight boy allies and the lesbians in the crowd--a naked lady on the balcony of a high-rise. I did wonder whether she was being supportive, just an exhibitionist, or both...but why pick?

These were taken by AJ.



(Often quite literally...)

Seattle 2008-11-15 053
Originally uploaded by Lurleen the Elder

Seattle 2008-11-15 019
Originally uploaded by Lurleen the Elder

A lot of things at the event made me smile; this was one of them.

Won't someone please think of the children?

Why does Michael Savage still have a job?

Some classic Mel Blanc/Jack Benny routines, as performed on the Tonight Show

Yeah--I'm not so sure that would be a good idea, but I suppose he knows more about it than I do...

As you may have seen elsewhere, there's talk of Obama asking Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State.

It is increasingly difficult for me to believe that I ever found Dennis Miller funny

And I did, I remember distinctly. But in the last few years...

It's not just that he decided to work for the Bush dog-and-pony show. It's that around the same time he did, his jokes started to sound like they were being written for him by high school bullies.

But this is one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

Watch this clip if you can brace yourself to stand five minutes-plus of Bill O'Reilly talking to Miller. Because in this case, it's not only what he says--which written down looks like just the same old tired mean spirit he now passes off as comedy.

But it's also the way he says it. Watch this and tell me if at some moment you don't get the feeling you're watching a man who is literally out of his head.



Whether or not that's from drink and/or drugs or just his mind snapping from the sheer weight of his stupidity is not for me to say.

But it's really, so sad. And also kinda scary.

How Obama keeps so trim, and other interesting facts

From "Fifty things you might not know about Barack Obama" in the UK Telegraph:

He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream

• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name

• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.

• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees

• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date

• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker

• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire

Thank you, Corey.

That seems fair.

Obama Successor Expected Around Christmas

Well said, George!

George Clooney on civil rights:

"At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won't be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black."

ETA this related matter...

Shut up!

A homophobic artistic director of California Musical Theatre?

Well, you've gotta respect him for taking such an unpopular position...no you don't.

The all-star connections continue

Talking Points says...

Roll Call says Biden's picking Ron Klain to be his Veep Chief of Staff.

For those interested in cinematic trivia, Klain was the guy Kevin Spacey played in HBO's Recount.

Speaking of the importance of keeping your sense of humor...(EDITED WITH ADDITION)

...the right-wing Powerline demonstrates neatly why it's impossible to take anything they say seriously...

Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn't raise his standards, he will exceed Bush's total before he is inaugurated.

For another opinion, I'm going to consult with an expert on the scrutinization of words...

"This guy was a hack! He had a captive audience! And the way I know that is that I tried to tunnel out of there several times. He had an audience and he didn't know what to do with it."

"Words, when spoken out loud for the sake of performance, are music. They have rhythm, and pitch, and timbre, and volume. These are the properties of music, and music has the ability to find us and move us, and lift us up in ways that literal meanings can't."

"You are an oratorical snob."

"Yes I am and God loves me for it."

ETA: And for further reflections on Bush's skill as a public speaker, let's ask...George W. Bush.

"I regret saying some things I shouldn't have said," Bush told CNN's Heidi Collins when asked to reflect on his regrets over his two terms as president. "Like 'dead or alive' and 'bring 'em on.' My wife reminded me that, hey, as president of the United States, be careful what you say."

"They had a sign that said 'Mission Accomplished.' It was a sign aimed at the sailors on the ship, but it conveyed a broader knowledge. To some it said, well, Bush thinks the war in Iraq is over, when I didn't think that. But nonetheless, it conveyed the wrong message."

The president, whose legacy is sure to be hotly debated for decades...

Not all that hotly, really...do the words "downward spiral" mean anything to you?

Gallup Poll Daily tracking results indicate only 27 percent of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president

How comforting.

Gun sales surge after Obama's election

Everything that rises must converge

Richard Schiff, Toby on West Wing, is guest starring on Terminator next week.

John McCain puts his conscience back to sleep

From Political Wire:

Historical Quote of the Day
"I'd never seen anything like that ad. Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible."

-- Sen. John McCain, quoted by CNN, on the campaign ads used by Saxby Chambliss (R) against Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) in the 2002 U.S. Senate race.

McCain is now scheduled to campaign for Chambliss in his Georgia run off against Jim Martin (D).

It's great to keep your sense of humor

Via Paul in SF on Pam's House Blend.

Who took this photo, Sergio Aragonés?

(In actual fact, it was Tim Sloan of the AFP)

Aw, shit. You pissy fucking cunt cocksucker motherfucking tits.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

You've got to laugh, haven't you?

Who CBS News (!) thought of hiring for sober, right-wing commentary:

Robert Novak
Kate O’Beirne
Tucker Carlson
Pat Buchanan
Matt Drudge
Fred Barnes
William Kristol
John Podhoretz
Bernard Goldberg
Ann Coulter
Andrew Sullivan
Christopher Hitchens
Elliot Abrams
Charles Krauthammer
William Bennett
Rush Limbaugh

And that's not even all...

I don't understand this.

Remember the Megan Meier case? If not, I'll remind you. Meir was the 13-year-old girl who committed suicide last year after receiving taunting MySpace messages by someone who she thought to be (and had represented themselves as) peers. Turned out, it wasn't her peers, it was her adult neighbors.

A lot of people were outraged about this, me being one of them. It's sometimes referred to as "the internet suicide case" or likewise, but to me, the key was never the tools used, it was that grown human beings--let me rephrase that...

Grown up creatures had nothing better to do with their time than to band together and try to hurt a little girl. There's a trial going on for one of those creatures right now, and the judge in same...

U.S. District Judge George H. Wu told attorneys he was leaning toward excluding the evidence [of the suicide] from the trial of Lori Drew, who is accused of using a fictitious profile on the social networking site to drive Megan Meier, her daughter's former friend, to hang herself.

Emphasis mine.

"I don't necessarily think the suicide is relevant to the crime charged," Wu said, adding he thought details of Meier's death would unfairly prejudice the jury.

I don't understand this.

(again, emphasis mine)

What a strange place to find comfort

Leigh Whannell wrote or co-wrote the screenplays to the first three Saw films, as well as appearing in the first and third. I found these quotes in this story about him.

‘‘You don't need permission to write, I could just grab a notepad and pen and start writing. Whereas if I wanna act, there are so many doors I have to get through. I have to get an agent, they have to send me to an audition, I have to get that role ...

‘‘At the end of the day, you're doing all that for what? So you can be in a film that you wouldn't even pay to see. You're like ‘Yes! I got the role! I will be appearing in ... Cheaper By the Dozen 3'.

‘‘The path of least resistance is to write a film that you like, even if no one else likes it, at least you're responsible for the quality...

The Obamas on election night

Via Josh Marshall.

New Pixar trailer!

Lovely.



I think this is gonna be amazing.

This is not your mother's Ziggy

Linked columns

I read these in the Sunday edition of The Seattle Times today, and thought them worth passing on.

First: Leonard Pitts, Jr, with a column that might be titled (if the professional twat David Cross hadn't co-opted this phrase), "The Pride Is Back."

Excerpts:

It would be a sin against our generations, against slaves and freedmen, against housemen and washerwomen, against porters and domestics, against charred bodies hanging in Southern trees, not to be still and acknowledge that something has happened here, and it is sacred and profound.

There was something bittersweet in watching Michelle Obama lectured on American pride this year, in seeing African Americans asked to prove their American-ness when our ancestors were in this country before this country was. There was something in it that was hard to take, knowing that we have loved America when America did not love us, defended America when it would not defend us, believed in American ideals that were larger than skies, yet never large enough to include us.

Next, Gregory Turner responds, as a retired clergymam and teacher of theology, to the banning of gay marriage. He says:

With Jesus it is always the walk of love and justice that marks a faithful person. He reserved his strongest words of judgment for those who used religious moralism to undermine faithful understanding and action. The invocation of moral codes and their intimidating use against the more vulnerable of God's people undermines moral principle and perverts the intention of Christ.

Read 'em.

And asking myself the question: Am I really seeing what I pray I'm seeing?

Candy Flip (the name allegedly refers to taking LSD*) were a one-or-two hit wonder of the British electronic dance band/"madchester" wave of the early '90s.

This (the song that follows) was not one of their bigger hits. But watching the interview with Obama's closest advisors on 60 Minutes this evening, I began to think of it.



*I wouldn't know as I've never taken acid.

That's right...love me.

Wildlife Observation, Prediction, and How to Be Ready
Originally uploaded by Jon/Away

Sweet!

The Horton the Elephant float is flight tested at Balloonfest, in New York on Saturday Nov. 8, 2008. Three new balloons were inflated and soared aloft ahead of their upcoming debut at the 82nd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
(AP Photo/Rick Maiman)

See the whole board

Illustration by John Cuneo

(FYI, the reference in the post title is to this episode of The West Wing.)

Here's a story by Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker on the process of the Obama campaign.

It's somewhat densely written, but the revelations contained are well worth taking the time when you have a few minutes to concentrate.

Here are some excerpts.

[speechwriter] Jon Favreau...told me, “People had come [to this campaign] from places where they were probably disappointed in politics.

Obama’s confidence filtered down through the campaign and gave comfort to his staff during the bleaker moments of 2008, such as when Obama learned that he had lost the New Hampshire primary...Favreau said, “His demeanor when he won the Iowa caucuses and his demeanor when he lost New Hampshire were not much different.”

To Obama’s aides, the most important moment of the campaign occurred when Obama had to actually be President...Michelle Obama once talked to me about the doubts that would need to be addressed before people could vote for her husband. “It is a leap of faith,” she said finally. “We talk about it all the time. It is a leap of faith.”

Oh, to be in Los Angeles (and to have money...) now that the Screenwriting Expo is here

William Goldman

Interview

with Aaron Sorkin

Musique obscure (you clicks the player and you makes your choice)...

1: Jes' let it play and chill...



2: singing that which could not be said...something to shout about.



3: So you want to see one hit-wonders Visage's one hit "Fade To Grey" as played on ukulele and keyboards by a Scottish duo who look like two different versions of The Master from Doctor Who.

We have good news for you.



and 4: If you're an '80s lover...



...this is mildly awesome.

Run, Newt, run.

Via Taegan Goddard...

Newt Gingrich "is far from a unanimous or even a consensus choice to run for president in 2012, but there is a strong feeling in Republican ranks that he is the only leader of their party who has shown the skill and energy to attempt a comeback quickly," according to Robert Novak.

This is fantastic. The right-wing party is eating itself alive.

("Any minute now, GOP will eat itself.")

By all means, Republicans, nominate the man who divorced his wife while she was recovering from cancer, in order to marry his intern. Nominate him to run against the man that we saw walk onstage with his family in Chicago Tuesday night.

Who knew?

I'm keeping this up, because I don't want Americans to forget just what this woman was...and who picked her.

That could be effective...

This ABC News piece on Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, compares him to West Wing character Josh Lyman.

A good op-ed by Joe Solmonese of the HRC, on the failure of Proposition 8.

Yes, I said "failure." I can't define anything that denied people their human and legal rights just because of who they fall in love with as a "success."

It's ok, Stephen, I teared up too

This was how I witnessed history. And by that of course, I mean, not just our election of Barack Obama...but Stephen Colbert breaking character.

Would you lose respect for me if I said I wanted to see Sarah Palin bled to death?

How about after you read this?

Game over.

Can you dig it?

Why Sarah Palin wasn't a joke.

Even though we all know that she shoulda been. But...

From Newsweek's Special:

The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.

That's not funny.

(Emphasis mine.)

Say Amen, somebody

A cartoon by Ann Telnaes.

We are none of us alone. Even as we exhale it is inhaled by others

Life moves to its new night and time tonight.

Watch it.

If my word isn't good enough for you, here's a review of the season opener from the Ottawa Citizen.

Good band, good song.

That is all.

I'd think this was funny if I didn't think it was true.

After emerging victorious from one of the most pivotal elections in history, president-elect Barack Obama will assume the role of commander in chief on Jan. 20, shattering a racial barrier the United States is, at long last, shitty enough to overcome.

Faced with losing everything, Americans took a long overdue step forward and elected Barack Obama.

Although polls going into the final weeks of October showed Sen. Obama in the lead, it remained unclear whether the failing economy, dilapidated housing market, crumbling national infrastructure, health care crisis, energy crisis, and five-year-long disastrous war in Iraq had made the nation crappy enough to rise above 300 years of racial prejudice and make lasting change.

It was a landslide victory. (ETA photos)

I figured I should set down a few thoughts on this history-making morning. As I said on this blog often, I didn't want to use these words before it had happened, but now I can. Obama won, and he won big.

I won't pretend to know what this moment is like for black people. But I don't like it when the anchors and such talk about it only in those terms anyway. This morning is probably the only morning I could say something like this with a straight face, but I feel like this is a time for all Americans to revel.



No matter what your color is, even no matter if you voted for Obama or did not, unless you're a racist bigot, you have to feel good that our country has finally gotten to this point. It gives not just black people, but all people who have obstacles to overcome, a hero.

I was saying to my mom yesterday that my nephew is going to grow up not knowing that this was anything strange. The first president I have actual memories of is Jimmy Carter. I was alive during Nixon and Ford, but not exactly politically conscious. For my nephew, it'll be Obama.

Watching the returns I was preparing myself for a little Christmas-morning-letdown, anticlimax feeling even if Obama won, as I’d hardly dared to allow myself to expect that he might. But when he captured Pennsylvania, then Ohio, and then took Virginia... (the first Democrat to do so in 44 years, BTW)...

Well, that's when I knew he was going to do it--that we were going to do it.



And I trembled with happiness.

(photos via BlogCleveland)

The President of the United States of America.

(Or: Don't it make my red states Blue. )

Probably for the best that I don't have the know-how, then

Because if I had the know-how, I'd whip up something with Bush and/or Cheney on the floor of the bathroom as my man Jigsaw slams the door and says...

"Game over!"

Free at last?

Barack Obama has won. Play this.



Or alternately, if you prefer to think of it as John McCain (and the GOP) has lost, play this.

American Idol winner Carrie Underwood has declined to endorse a candidate this year...which is certainly her right, fine.

But she's gone so far as to take a swipe at other celebs who have chosen to do so.

"There is someone I do support, but I don't support publicly," Carrie said. "I lose all respect for celebrities when they back a candidate."

"I would never want anybody to vote for anything or anybody just because I told them to."

Now: Maybe I'm cynical...and there's no maybe about it...but what that sounds like to me is:

Someone who knows that the person she plans to vote for isn't likely to do very well tonight. And sees no reason to have her name attached to a losing ticket. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe her sentiments are entirely noble.

Disgusting.

Someone hacked the George Mason University email system to send an email from the provost announcing Election Day had been moved to Nov. 5

As noted previously on this blog, there are no lesbian characters on mainstream, prime-time television.

There are bisexual women, but no lesbians.

Sadly, you don't have to stretch your mind too far to see why that might be: Fellas who think a little lesbian-type loving is sexy, but can't imagine women who don't ever want a little deep-dish dicking.

An actress on the series "Grey's Anatomy," whose character had entered a lesbian relationship, and realized she was gay, has been written out.

I've never watched 'Grey's Anatomy,' so I have no opinion on this from that perspective. But reportedly, this was not a decision by the show's creative staff, but a directive of cold feet on the part of the network.

On the other hand, a new character coming in reportedly is bisexual.

Shame on you, ABC. Shame on you.

Differences.

Bush:

Others inside and outside the administration, however, say the upbeat talk masks disappointment and frustration among many White House staffers, who believe Bush's reputation has been unfairly maligned for a series of calamities -- from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to the financial crisis -- that were beyond his control and that he handled well. GOP nominee John McCain's escalating attacks on Bush's tenure have added to the irritation, these people said.

"Everybody kind of wanted to spend the last 100-plus days doing some legacy things, and the financial crisis has thrown a wrench into that," said one prominent Republican who regularly talks with senior White House officials.

"You have a combination of no legacy stuff, a horrible economic mess and the likelihood that Obama is going to win," this person added.

From the Washington Post via ahab at If I Ran the Zoo.

Obama:

ABC NEWS: Was there a worst moment? Or what keeps you up at night?

OBAMA: Well, look, the night we lost New Hampshire was tough. We had been 10 points up, according to the polls going into Election Day and lost by two, and that's one of the reasons why we take nothing for granted in this race and we don't believe those polls. But, you know, the thing that keeps me up is not actually winning or loosing -- it's governing. When I think about things when the lights are out and I'm tossing and turning in bed, its how do we make sure we fulfill the commitments to the American people that we've made throughout this campaign.

I was going to do a "Li'l Red Riding Hood by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs" reference here (look it up), but actually, this is kind of adorable

Kate Beckinsale trick-or-treating with her daughter.

Talk about your bittersweet...

All sympathy.

Madelyn Dunham, grandmother of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, died today after a battle with cancer. She was 86.

Dunham, who lived in Hawaii, died on the eve of an election in which her grandson was leading in the race to become president.

``She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility,'' Obama said in a statement released by his campaign. ``She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring.''

Obama flew to Hawaii for two days in the final stretch of the campaign to be with the woman he called ``Toot,'' short for ``tutu,'' the Hawaiian word for grandmother. He has credited her with his success in life, saying she ``poured everything she had into me.''

What the fuck?

One or two of any of you longtimers may remember last year when Rosie O'Donnell claimed that Ellen DeGeneres wasn't doing enough for other people that were gay.

So you'd think O'Donnell would've joined the other celebrities, both gay and straight (Brad Pitt, DeGeneres, Steven Spielberg, T.R. Knight), who have donated money to defeat Prop 8. Putting her money where her mouth is, so to speak (no, actually, the joke you're thinking of is in very poor taste).

But you'd be wrong. Not a dime. When asked why by several readers of her blog...not that her blogging is readable...she replied,

"I didnt run away, I walked down the stairs in san fran, I support gay marriage, i am living it,"

Is it me, or does that sound an awful lot like: "I got mine, fuck all y'all."?

It sure does to me. And that means that Rosie O'Donnell is doing as much for gay people in the fight as Mary Cheney.

What a flaming hypocrite.

Final thoughts

(click to read)

How I'm hoping I won't feel tomorrow

Chris Lowe, Neil Tennant, Bernard Sumner, and Johnny Marr...amazing.

Just an observation

In 20 years, the Republican party has gone from George Bush to John McCain.

In 20 years, the Democratic party has gone from Michael Dukakis to Barack Obama.

Which is the party of change?

Sexism? What sexism?

In Virginia, some men are planning to vote for McCain/Palin, because, well, y'know...she's got tits.

You've come a long way, baby.

On the potentially brighter side of the News, even Fox has accepted the likelyhood that Obama will do very, very well tomorrow.

Well, let's just face it--I love this shit

This is for Mana if she's watching

Of course, anyone else who wants to is welcome to look at it too. The music is "The Sun Rising" by The Beloved but the pictures were put together (and posibly taken) by a YouTuber called "szocka."

I'm "dedicating" it to Mana because it includes pictures of Transylvania (Romania), where she's from, and because I haven't heard from her for a while.

Oh, ra-ther!

It's going to be so sad coming back to these people in four years when they've grown all cynical

Many young voters see vote as first act of hope

Dressed up like a million dollar trooper Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper

My mother sent me a picture.

This is my grandfather, Jacques Cornelius Varkentine, in his early 20s, sometime between 1915-1920.



This is me in my early 30s.



I never knew my grandfather, but I would have to admit there is a resemblance.

If nothing else, as my mother wrote, " Now we see where you got your hair from."

But you know who he looks like to me?



Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein.

Message for a generation.

I admit, I've long thought that Natalie Portman, though beautiful, was kind of a wooden actress and generally a silly person. I'm glad to be shown I was wrong.

See more Natalie Portman videos at Funny or Die

(I don't know Rashida Jones' work well enough to have an opinion on her)

Oh...my...god!

In Grosse Pointe, MI, on Halloween night, a woman

posted a sign saying children of Obama supporters would be turned away without any candy.

Emphasis mine.

Via Kathy at If I Ran the Zoo.

Thank you, Dick.

DICK CHENEY: And in three days we'll choose a new steward for the presidency and begin a new chapter in our history. It's the biggest decision that we make together as Americans. A lot turns on the outcome. I believe the right leader for this moment in history is Senator John McCain. John is a man who understands the danger facing America. He's a man who has looked into the face of evil and not flinched. He's a man who's comfortable with responsibility and has been since he joined the armed forces at the age of 17. He's earned our support and confidence, and the time is now to make him commander-in-chief. I'm delighted to support John McCain and I'm pleased that he's chosen a running mate with executive talent, toughness and common sense, our next vice president in Sarah Palin."

Update: Obama responded by saying, "I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it."

(Political Wire)

A song by Leonard Cohen

I was thinking about this song because the movie Pump Up The Volume, in which it appears (though it's not on the OST), was on television last night.

The movie's not quite as good as I thought it was then, but then I'm no longer a teenager.

This version is by a YouTuber named Holly. Here's "If It Be Your Will."

As G.B. Trudeau goes, so goes the nation

There's a tempest in a teapot brewing about Trudeau's comic strip, Doonesbury. Trudeau has already submitted his strips for next week, and they assume an Obama w--.

The teapot comes in because

newspaper editors around the country are debating whether to publish the comic no matter the results of the election.

Trudeau's got steelier nerves than I have. Even with-

polling data giv[ing] McCain a 3.7% chance...

-you are not going to see the "W" word, the "L" word" or the "V" word on this blog until this thing has been called by at least one cable and one broadcast network; maybe even PBS, and maybe not even until I see the headlines the next morning.

Superstitious? Maybe. But there is such a thing as, what?

Tempting fate, that's right.

As I say, this is seriously meaningless, but it helps kill time until election day. In that spirit, I offer you the following pieces of information, and leave it to you to put them together.

Yesterday:

In March 1995, John McCain denounced Trudeau on the floor of the Senate: “Suffice it to say that I hold Trudeau in utter contempt.” This was in response to a strip about Bob Dole’s strategy of exploiting his war record in his presidential campaign. The quotation was used on the cover of Trudeau’s book Doonesbury Nation. (McCain and Trudeau later made peace: McCain wrote the foreword to The Long Road Home, Trudeau’s collection of comic strips dealing with BD’s leg amputation during the second Iraq war.)

"How cool is that?," Trudeau commented to Nancy Shute in U.S. News & World Report. "I thought his participation would underscore the point that caring for our veterans isn't a partisan issue."

In the foreword, McCain wrote,

"Biting but never cynical, and often wickedly funny, these comic strips will make you laugh, reflect, and--in the end--understand."

Today:

From the John McCain camp, spokesman Tucker Bounds said: "We hope the strip proves to be as predictive as it is consistently lame."

lame adj...Disabled so that movement, especially walking, is difficult or impossible

Good one, Tuck.

it's not just for Usenet anymore

Godwin's law, that is.

Since October 16, numerous media figures -- among them Jerome Corsi, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, and Bill Cunningham -- have compared Sen. Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis.

John Cleese on Countdown